London was great, but hokum smokes was I jet lagged this morning. I barely slept all night. The kids, meanwhile, seemed unaffected despite getting in at midnight... they were up and about at 6:30 with the sun, like always.

That's pretty much what traveling with kids was like... it's not quite a getaway, it's more like an intensive 24 hour a day program of parenting. Another parent I know described it as "both an internal and an external journey". It's certainly work, but it's exceptionally rewarding work. I could really tell how much it made the kids happy to have so much uninterrupted time with their mom and dad. That's one of the major reasons why I started this whole project, because as a parent you want to give your kids anything and everything they want and need to be happy, and the universal thing they want and need most is attention from their parents (up to a certain age / stage of development of course... I expect tweens and teens to be a whole different ball of wax).

We definitely gave the kids lots of walking time in London, and had exceptionally busy days. We took the kids to some amazing restaurants (Damien Hirst's Pharmacy 2 and David Shrigley's Sketch, for example) and they were relatively well behaved... it was easier once we started thinking of it like taking the Sex Pistols out to a fancy meal. You're going to have to chide them now and then for putting their knees up on the table and being too loud, but if they don't make too big a scene it counts as a victory.

Hoping for a Ritalin cocktail at Pharmacy 2

We took the Tube EVERYWHERE. I loved how whenever I read Station names I'd hear Morrissey singing them in my head.

Everywhere the Carnabytian army marches on, each one a dedicated follower of fashion

Illuminati status: confirmed (at the Library and Museum of Freemasonry)